1. Case Study – Problems with Will-Writing company
Mrs Etherington made a will with a well-known will-writing service provider only to learn they weren’t being entirely truthful with their processes.

When Mrs June Etherington came to Gorvins she was tired of dealing with other companies who aren’t experts in their area.

She had previously made a will with a well-known company who provide will-writing as a side-line to the work they are famous for. After thinking she had made her will with this company, she was shocked to find out that they had outsourced the work to a third party unbeknownst to her.

When she found this out her trust had been diminished. Mrs Etherington was then recommended to Gorvins by her son and a well-known high street bank. Her will was drawn up to an extremely high standard by a dedicated professional.

In regards to our Act On It campaign, Mrs Etherington said she believes it to be highly important, ensuring that making a will with someone who knows what they are doing takes the worry out of everything and gives the client total piece of mind.

2. Case Study – Making a will after illness diagnosis
A testimonial from a lady who made a will after being diagnosed with an illness. She had also suffered a number of recent deaths in the family and felt like now was the time to Act On It.

Mrs Jones (name changed for confidentiality reasons) wanted to get her affairs in order while she had capacity to do so. There is no better time to plan for your future whilst you can and before it is too late.

Mrs Jones wanted to leave her assets and property in the right hands to make it much, much easier for the family members she might leave behind. Planning ahead in this way makes an already stressful and emotional period, that little bit easier to handle. It also ensures your assets are divided just the way you want them to be.

3. Case Study – Husband & Wife make Lasting Powers of Attorney
Mr & Mrs R decided to both make Lasting Powers of Attorney documents should something unforeseen happen to them in the future.

After feeling like they were getting older, Mr and Mrs R decided to act on it by both making Lasting Power of Attorney documents. An LPA ensures that should something happen to you, which means you are unable to look after your welfare and finances, such as developing dementia or having a serious accident, a trusted person can take over your affairs.

Getting these documents in place now can save thousands and thousands of court fee pounds in the future to get the rights to look after your loved ones affairs. Mr and Mrs R both decided to get the financial LPA and welfare LPA meaning they designated someone to look after both aspects should they not be able to in the future.

They both stated how important they believe our Act On It campaign is, saying more publicity is needed to make people aware of such vital documents and how they can truly help people to plan for their future.

4. Case Study – Wills and Lasting Power of Attorney
Peter contacted us regarding his elderly, unmarried Aunt Edith, who lived in another part of the country. He said Social Services had placed her in a care home, as she was no longer able to care for herself at home.

Peter was outraged at the apparent high handed attitude of the Local Authority as he told us he was the next of kin and couldn’t understand what right the Local Authority had in interfering in her affairs.

Gorvins explained that the Local Authority has statutory duties of care to their elderly residents. Peter rarely visited his aunt, so it was no surprise that he was out of touch with developments.

Unless his aunt had taken action, whilst she was fit and well and had made a Lasting Power of Attorney to cover the possibility that one day she might be in the situation where she couldn’t manage her own affairs, then the Local Authority were safeguarding her interests and the only solution was for Peter to apply to the Court of Protection to become her Deputy.

This can take at least 6 months, during which time Peter’s aunt’s affairs were in a state of limbo.

Another couple, Bill and Joan, had addressed such issues, whilst they were both fit to do so. Sadly, Joan was now suffering from dementia and Bill had bowel cancer. It seemed likely that Bill might die before Joan.

Some years before, Bill & Joan had visited their solicitor and changed the way that they owned their house, instead of the survivor owning all the house after the first of them died (this is called a Joint tenancy), they now owned the house as Tenants in Common. This meant they each owned a distinct half share in the house, which instead of going outright to the survivor of them, went in accordance with their Wills, which was drawn up as part of their sensible asset preservation planning.

The Wills gave the survivor of them the right to live in the house until death or earlier if the survivor no longer permanently lived there.

Sadly Bill died before Joan, who then went into a care home. The house was sold by their two sons, who had been appointed executors of Bill’s Will and the attorneys of Joan, under a Lasting Power of Attorney, which she made whilst fit and mentally capable.

What happened to the sale proceeds of the house?

Well Bill’s half share passed under his will to his two sons. Joan was in care and self funding her care costs, so her sons made sure she received all the benefits she was entitled to and taking into account her State and occupational pension looked at the shortfall in her fees. They then took financial advice and purchased an annuity based on Joan’s life expectancy. This annuity made up the difference in her care costs for the rest of her life.

So with good planning, half the value of the house was preserved against care costs and a large proportion of Joan’s half share was also preserved, to pass onto her sons and their families on her death.

The moral of these two stories is it’s never too early to take good specialist legal advice and put it into action.

5. Case Study – Change in family circumstance triggered Will change
A change in circumstance within the family, after her nephew had a stroke, triggered Mrs Wright to change her will to ensure the right people were looked after.

At the age of 90 and with her will already done, you’d think that the plan for the future had been completed it needn’t be looked at again.

However, when Mrs Wright’s nephew had a stroke it triggered a change in circumstances within the family. After the stroke, her nephew was sadly disabled and unable to fully fend for himself. He currently receives benefits and

Mrs Wright realised that if he should receive any monetary benefit from the will, his benefits would stop.
Mrs Wright took the decision to remove her nephew from the will so that he would benefit in the long term. Whilst Mrs Wright was changing her will, she also decided to remove two friends who were set to benefit, but that she didn’t see anymore.

She reiterated the need to plan for the future and try and plan for the unexpected.

6. Case Study – Wills & Estate Planning
A case study of a father who wanted to make a will and plan the succession of his estate before he went on holiday. He had a difficult family situation and wanted to make sure his most prized possessions went to the people he wanted to.

After reading our making a will advice article on Mums in the Know, a father was triggered to Act On It.

He was recently scheduled to go on holiday with his daughter, but wanted to make sure that should anything happen to him, everything was in place for the transfer of his estate and assets to only the people he wanted to benefit.

Mr Smith (name changed for confidentiality reasons) had been separate from his wife for 15 years, but he was technically still married to her. Despite this, he wanted to ensure that only the people of his choosing inherited his hard-earned possessions; a crucial aspect when it comes to planning the future of your loved ones. He didn’t necessarily want people to inherit his assets by legal default considering he was still ‘married’.

Mr Smith rang us up, made an appointment and came into our offices. His needs were quickly dealt with and he was given total peace of mind.

For some people, making a will just seems like an arduous task which gets put on the to-do list. However, for Mr Smith, who was going on holiday in less than a week, the process was quick, efficient and legally-sound.

This proves how quick and easy making a will can be. Mr Smith left more than satisfied and ready to enjoy his holiday.

7. Case Study – Will update after daughter became an adult
Parents decided to update their will after their daughter officially became an adult.

Mr & Mrs Davis (name changed) had already made a will, which was now a few years old. When they originally made the document their daughter was under 18 and officially classed a child.

Now their daughter is over 18 and classed as an adult, they wanted to update their will to ensure their daughter was included as an executor. Mr & Mrs Davis said they believed keeping everything up-to-date was very important to reflect changing circumstances which will make everything more straightforward for their family in the future.

8. Case Study – Made a will to benefit disabled son
Family consulted our expert team to make a complicated will involving trusts for their disabled son.

Mr & Mrs Cook came into our offices in South Manchester wanting to make a will after putting it off for enough time and just now finally getting round to it.

Their circumstances were fairly complicated and they had to think it through carefully. They wanted to include a trust in their will to look after their disabled son. They were triggered into making a will after discovering how hard it is when you don’t make one.

Mrs Cook’s elderly mother has dementia but hadn’t put anything in place. This made the situation much more complex than it needed to be. Mr & Mrs Cook didn’t want to leave it too late to put things into place for their future situation.

Our specialist team were able to sort out all of their needs and finally gave the couple and their family peace of mind.

9. Case Study – Made a will after serious family illnesses
Mr & Mrs Y made mirror wills after a series of serious illnesses within the family made them think about the future.

Mr & Mrs Y came into Gorvins to make mirror wills after Mr Y had been diagnosed with prostate cancer a few years previously. They were triggered into finally making a will when their adult daughter was found to have a brain aneurism.

It was an especially difficult time for the family and it made them debate and contemplate their future. As a result they decided to act on it to make sure their children would be OK in the future and fully benefit from their parents’ estate should they both die together.

Both Mr and Mrs Y have vocalised their support of our ‘Act On It’ campaign and stated that they “definitely” should have made a will sooner just in case anything did happen. They are now pushing their daughter to have a will drafted too as she has 3 young children to look after and believe she should plan for the unexpected happening. They state it is “best to have everything in black and white”.

10. Case Study – Widow makes will to benefit children
Sadly, after losing her husband, Mrs A decided to make a will so her children could benefit fully if anything happened to her.

After putting off making a Will for a number of years because she thought it would “be a hassle and take a long time”, Mrs A thought she could not put it off any longer. Her main reason for doing so was to straighten things out for her children, making everything clear and easy to follow.

She especially didn’t want to have a “mess” and see her children squabbling over the inheritance. She instructed Gorvins to draft her will and was extremely happy with the service provided from our Wills, Trust and Probate team who were only too happy to help her out.

11. Case Study – A move back from Spain after 15 years triggers couple to make a will
After living in Spain for 15 years a married couple moved back to the UK and knew they needed to make a will.

Mr and Mrs A were always told from a young age of the importance of making a will. The couple didn’t make one before moving to Spain 15 years ago. They have recently moved back to the UK and have decided to strike while the iron is hot and make a pair of wills.

The highlighted the importance of protecting their hard-earned assets and ensuring their children benefitted from their inheritance. They wanted their assets to go to their loved ones rather than unnecessarily going into the government’s hands.

By acting on it Mr and Mrs A were able to plan according to their desires for the future!

12. Case Study – Wanted children and grandchildren to benefit
After the clients’ mother had died, the family circumstances had changed. The client wanted to specifically name recipients to show they had thought about them.

After a change in family circumstances, the client (Mrs M) thought now was the perfect time to Act On It!

Mrs M’s mother had died and a result she had inherited a reasonable amount of money. Mrs M wanted to make a will but she wanted to include specific requests within the wills, so got in touch with our specialist Wills, Trusts and Probate team who would be able to draft a water-tight will.

Amongst her wishes was to individual name family members, such as children and grandchildren, so that they knew she had given her will some consideration and thought of them.

Her main reason for making a will was to not leave a mess for her family to have to sort out when she wasn’t around. She thought this was really important and was one of the main triggers alongside her change in family circumstances.

13. Case Study – Single Parent Protects Young Daughter
Single parent came to Gorvins to make a will to look after her young daughter.

Ms T used the expert services of Gorvins’ Wills team to ensure her family would be looked after in the future.

Her main issue was to make sure her daughter would be protected and looked after by the people Ms T would specifically want – she did not want to leave it to chance. She commented how a Will is like a life insurance policy, it’s incredible important to have one even though you might not like to think about it.

We’re glad Ms T took the initiative into her own hands to give herself piece of mind for the new year!

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